Toward Their Tomorrow Thirty years ago, the Sanford-Springvale Rotary Club started pursuing a dream to help local graduates

Thursday

May 23, 2013 at 3:15 AM

By Shawn p. SullivanSanford News Editor

SANFORD — Back in 1977, Thomas Jagger had a terrific idea: the Sanford-Springvale Rotary Club should start awarding annual scholarships to graduating high school seniors throughout the area. He got the idea while attending a meeting of the Kennebunk Rotary Club, which that day discussed ways to raise $100,000 for its own scholarship fund.

Such a project would be vast in scope, given all the funds that the Rotarians would need to generate, and, sure enough, the club passed on the idea for six straight years — until, that is, member Don Jacques became the club’s president in 1983 and called a vote among the organization’s board of directors to see if a scholarship program could be established.

Turned out, it could.

Thirty years later — last Thursday, May 16, to be exact — the Sanford-Springvale Rotary Club awarded $11,000 in scholarships to seven graduating seniors from Sanford (SHS) and Massabesic (MHS) high schools during its weekly morning meeting at the Sanford Town Club.

■ Sarah E. Connelly, of MHS, who received $2,500. Connelly will attend the University of Southern Maine in Gorham in the fall.

■ Corey Eldridge, of SHS, who received $2,500. Eldridge will attend the New England School of Communication in Bangor.

■ Sarah Gould, of SHS, who received $1,500. Gould will attend the University of Maine at Farmington.

■ Marie Harrington, of MHS, who received $1,000. Harrington will attend St. Joseph’s College in Standish.

■ Garth Johnson, of SHS, who received $1,000. Johnson will attend Northern Maine Community College.

■ Kaylin Leclerc, of MHS, who received $1,000. Leclerc will attend River University in Nashua, New Hampshire.

■ Kristin Lambert, of MHS, who received $1,500. Lambert will attend Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire.

Fortier praised the students for their maturity, thoughtfulness, and, particularly, the manner in which they conducted themselves during their interviews that were a part of the application process.

“You should be very proud of yourselves,” Fortier said. “Congratulations to all of you — and congratulations to your parents.”

Last Thursday, Jagger’s daughter, Rotarian Kim LaChance, provided a history of the club’s early days as an annual scholarship presenter.

Jagger and fellow Rotarian Phil Fields cochaired the new scholarships committee that first year and brought on board other club members to join them — Don Jacques, Bob Ferguson, David Gardner, Dick Bergeron, Ted Titcomb, Bob Dubois, Len Knight, Roger Durant and David Verette were among them.

The committee met once a week, at noontime, at The Boat Shop on Wilson Street and discussed how to raise scholarship funds through raffling off prizes. The goal back then was for Rotarians to sell 300 tickets at $100 a pop, for a grand total of $30,000. The committee knew the club would have to pay at least wholesale for the top two prizes, so the aim was to net $15,000 each year. The committee figured that in seven years, by the late Eighties, the club would then have $105,000, enough to get the scholarships started.

Throughout the 1980s, the club held special annual events at the Sanford Armory on William Oscar Emery Drive. During these events, which were big, catered affairs, the principals from either Sanford or Massabesic high schools would draw the winning raffle tickets for ten prizes from a revolving drum. To keep things honest and interesting, the principals always wore blindfolds.

The prizes each year were big ones. In 1988, for example, the top prize was a 1988 Chevrolet Spring Metro from Tucker Chevrolet. The next year, a 1989 Plymouth Horizon from Ballenger Auto was the grand prize; the second and third prizes were a boat and a three-day cruise in the Bahamas, respectively.

The raffle and events at the Armory proved a popular draw. After the first one, the Rotary Club had netted $17,000 to place in a scholarship fund. In coming years, the club would reach $110,000 for the fund — and in the 1990s, it would climb to $200,000.

The club placed the money it raised in a trust of the York County Federal Credit Union when interest rates were at 10 percent. In a show of community support, the credit union kept that 10 percent for the fund even after interest rates later dipped. Eventually, the club transferred the fund to Smith Barney in Portland for financial management. In time, the fund was allowed as a 503(c) corporation with a set of bylaws and strict rules for allocating scholarship money on an annual basis. Former members Ted Titcomb, an attorney, and Alice Ferran, a CPA, put a lot of hard work into achieving that status for the fund.

“The fund has helped many students from both Sanford and Massabesic high schools, as well as vocational students, and should continue well into the future,” LaChance said.

On Friday, Jagger looked back on thirty years of fundraising and the impact that the Rotarians’ scholarships have had on young people in the community.

The club has always strived to award scholarships to students who need a bit of a hand to pursue higher learning, Jagger said. Students with all A’s on their report cards are not necessarily shoe-ins, he said.

Of his days leading the efforts, he said, “We looked for students who had all-around good grades — A’s and B’s, maybe a C — and were involved in school activities and had a job.”

Jagger fondly recalled one teenager who applied for a scholarship years and years ago. According to Jagger, the student’s parents had divorced and he lived with his mother. One day, his mother reportedly told him that she was heading out west to start a new life and that he would be on his own. The student moved into the home of a friend, whose parents eventually encouraged him to apply for a Rotary scholarship. Jagger said the young man decided to swing for the fences and apply to one of the most prestigious colleges in the state. The soon-to-be graduate got the Rotary scholarship that year — and got even more financial help from that college, which accepted him.

“He was a truly smart kid,” Jagger said. “He wanted to work. He wanted to get ahead.”

Jagger estimates that the Sanford-Springvale Rotary Club has awarded close to $300,000 in scholarships over the years.

Of those earlier years, when he and fellow Rotarians started with a dream and then made it happen, Jagger said, “It was well worth it, and a lot of fun.”